Running Head: TRAFICKED WOMEN

Trafficked Women: Literature Review

Leslie Valenzuela
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Nugent
RWS 1302

Trafficked Women

Trafficked Women: Literature Review

Human trafficking has been an issue all around the world. Women are the main
target for human trafficking because they are worth more money and are able to earn
more money because of the many jobs they are put to do. Human trafficking is a
business in which the owners earn thousands of money by inducing women into false
employments, in which they have to travel, with the promise of a better life. Many are
just kidnapped with the only intention to use them for their business. Even though there
have been many advances in technology it is still hard for the police to find these
women from one day to another. We try to ignore these problems because it is hard to
see and hear what these women go thru especially when you are a women yourself.
No one believes this could happen to them, it seems to be that it only happens in
movies but that is because we do not want to realize how big and how dangerous this
problem is. Shutting down this issue from our lives will not make it disappear it is only
making it worse because we are not helping it stop. Trafficking women will continue to
grow because the demand for this merchandise as they call it keeps growing and if
this cycle is not broken that means more women will continue to be in danger. When
analyzing this issue there are four questions we need to take into consideration as well
as an interview with a women who lived thru this:
1. How do predators decide who to traffic?
2. What happens after women are trafficked?
3. How do women being trafficked cope with the situation they are going thru?

Trafficked Women

This literature review will inform you what happens from the predators point of
view and from the victims point of view. It will also persuade you to make a difference
and inform you the many forms there are to stop trafficking women.
How do predators decide who to traffic?
Predators disguise themselves as business men most of the time to enchant this
young women and make them believe that they are people of good and so nobody
suspects about their hidden job. The main people involved in trafficking women are
crime groups with the help of local governments and even the police (Soroptimist,
2012). Predators have very common forms to find the right girl for their business, some
of these forms are obvious they are looking for a pretty young lady that is need of
money in order to have a better life or to help her family economically and get out of
poverty. They are promised a legal job that will bring them that economic stability they
cannot find in their home town. There are four types of predators, The Lover Boy, The
Enabler, Peer Pressured, and Gorilla Pimp (How Street Traffickers Recruit Young Girls,
2014). The lover boy picks young girls that commonly have no adult supervision like the
internet and the social media there is today to make them fall in love with them and
induce later induce them into the trafficking business. The Enabler targets young girls
that like to party, drink and use drugs because then the enabler offers himself to buy
them these drugs or alcoholic beverages which these young women then become
addicts later forcing them into prostitution. Peer pressured can be one of the most
common methods used to induce women into human trafficking because this type of
predator is a women which she shows off all the nice clothes, jewelry and cars she has
to cause envy and ambition in the victim that way they would like to be like her which

Trafficked Women

the predator then takes her to the person that changed her life which in reality is the
trafficking industry. The last one is the Gorilla pimp, the Gorilla Pimp is the one we
commonly see in the movies they use violence and intimidation to take over these
women and force them to have sex with men in return for money. They set money
standards and if they dont meet those standards then they will punish the women
because of their disobedience and their inability to meet the required money (How
Street Traffickers Recruit Young Girls, 2014). All of these methods are used with one
purpose only and that is to induce this young girls and women into the trafficking and
sex

industry with the sole purpose to benefit and win money with the womens forced work.

Trafficked Women

Figure 4
The power and control wheel involved in sexual violence and exploitation. Reproduced with
permission from Prolaris Project. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/figure/F4/

In the figure above you can clearly see the many factors predators used in order to keep
their victims scared and in control over the situation.
What Happens after Women are Trafficked?
After women are induced and lied about these legal jobs that will produce a
better future for them and their beloved ones and once they are completely convinced
then they are then taken into their worst nightmare. In most instances they are first
taken to medical examinations to make sure they do not have any type of illness or
infections as well as check if they are virgins or not (La Promesa, 2012). Once they
have the results then thats when they decide how much each one of the women are
worth in this business. Once they decide how much they are worth then they are taken
to another country in which they start to work as prostitutes in order to pay the debt they
have with their predators because of all the money they invested in them starting with
the documentation like the passports and ending with the food they consume (Sex
Trafficking of Women and Girls, 2013). They are then sold to rich men, forced to have
sex with many men, work in clubs as pole dancers to win money to help pay for their
debt and if you are a virgin then you are sold at a much higher price which only means
you are worth more which means you have a higher debt. Virgins are sold in auctions,

Trafficked Women

they reserve then and auction them with the purpose to receive as much money as they
can because in this type of business they are the jewels (Taken, 2008). Being a virgin
makes you worth a lot of money and if you are not auctioned by person you are
auctioned online in which there is a time set for men to propose their money and of
course the last person to bid with the highest amount before the auction is over takes
the prize in this case the young girl or women (Trade, 2007). If you are not sold then you
are condemned to work as a prostitute in order to pay for the debt you have with the
predators which is a form to have you as their slave. Many believe human trafficking is
the modern form of slavery because it is in a sense the same concept with the
exception that you sell your body to help pay the debt you have and in slavery you
would have to work in a farm or factory as well to pay off the money you owe your
owners (Sex Trafficking of Women and Girls, 2013). Escaping becomes difficult
because the predators have you threatened with the lives of your family members and
they tend to know your life very well that you live in fear that something can happen to
them if you do not do what you are told (La Promesa, 2012). You dedicate your life into
this business to try and pay for the freedom you once had.
How do women being trafficked cope with the situation they are going
thru?
Having to live thru human trafficking is one of the worst experiences a women
can go thru. The main source used by women in order to cope with the situation they
are going thru are drugs and alcohol. (Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation, N/A). Once
they are induced into the trafficking business they are kept under medication that way it
is easier for the predators to manipulate the victims and make them listen to their

Trafficked Women

orders. It later becomes an addiction which many women use in order to forget about
their situation and survive another day with the hope to be rescued or to escape.
Women at first experience an initial trauma which means they are developing anxiety
problems and with the pass of time they start to lose their memory and lack to recall the
events that happen while being held captive (The Health Risks and Consequences of
Trafficking in Women and Adolescents findings from an European Study, 2003). For
predators it is best for their victims to be kept under drugs and alcohol because they can
endure longer periods of time and have more clients which means more money for the
predators (The Health Risks and Consequences of Trafficking in Women and
Adolescents findings from an European Study, 2003). They decide it is best for them to
continue to use these drugs to help them cope with what they have to go thru every day
and night and to try to forget and make their days go by fast. Another method women
use as a form of coping is smoking. Cigarettes help women with their anxiety because
of the situation they are currently living (The Health Risks and Consequences of
Trafficking in Women and Adolescents findings from a European Study, 2003). These
are the three coping forms women go thru in order to cope with their situation and to
help them forget what they are currently going thru.
Interview with a Human Trafficking Victim
The following interview was conducted March 12, 2016 in which I asked 8
questions with regards to her experience on human trafficking. I will refer to her as the
victim throughout the whole interview because she asked me to keep her anonymous
as she did not want her name to be known. This interview will be in a paragraph format
as it will be much simpler to read and understand.

Trafficked Women

The victim was 36 years old when the incident happened. She is an event
organizer, she dedicates her time to organize weddings, baby showers, birthday parties
and all type of events you can imagine. She together with a friend collaborated together
in order to rent a space and put this business in which they soon became known. They
were doing great everything was coming out the way they expected soon after they
received a proposal in which they were asked to make an event outside of their city but
they were going to be paid pretty well. So they accepted because of course the offer
was opening doors for their business to grow. They never doubted about this person
because the company to which they were making this event for was well known so they
were sure it was not anything false or misleading. They had to travel to Tijuana, Mexico
where the event was going to be held. The event was scheduled to be on May 8, 2014
and the travel expenses would be covered by the company who hired them to make this
event so they did not have to worry about the travel the priority was to make sure
everything went well with the event. The date arrived and the victims arrived to Tijuana,
Mexico as well prepared for the event, but what they did not have in mind was that
everything they had invested on the event was only to be the ticket for their worst
nightmare. Once they arrived they person who contacted them to make the event
picked them up and as they were traveling to the destination they realized that
everything started to seem weird. They knew something was wrong because they were
taken in another direction traveling further and further from the city with no clue to where
they were headed. Arriving to the destination, which looked like an abandoned ranch,
made their thoughts go wild with an uncertainty of where they had taken them. They
were then taken out of the car violently with no questions answer and with no clue what

Trafficked Women

so ever on why they were there to soon realize they were being kidnapped and later
used for trafficking. They threw them inside a barn in which they were tied with tape and
put into a little room and locked. That is when they started to cry because they had no
idea what was going to happen to them or what they were going to do. They stayed
there for a week more or less because the victim lost track of time. The victims states
that she was able to see thru a hole in one of the walls as many as 30 other women and
young girls held captive as her. The victim and her friend had an opportunity to escape
because no one was watching over them because as she heard they had a problem
which required all the men in the ranch to leave. They dug up a hole on the floor as fast
as they could which enabled them to escape, she states I ran as fast as I could without
looking back because I was afraid they would capture me again. Once they escaped
they kept running which took them a day to get to the city and look for help. They
immediately contacted their families to let them know they were alive and safe and let
them know where they were. After getting to the authorities they helped them get home
after making sure they had rescued the rest of the women and girls that where left
captured. Once they arrived home it took her time to process what had happened to her
and how lucky she was to escape alive. She looked for professional help because after
what had happened to her she was unable to talk about it again with the exception of
letting me interview her and only speaking what she could because it was really hard for
her to go into detail as when she tried to she started to become nervous and to shake.
Conclusion
Human trafficking can be the worst thing that can happen to any women and
some do not have as much luck as others. Trying to stop and inform about this topic can

Trafficked Women

10

save as many as one life but we are at least trying to make a difference. Sex trafficking
sounds horrible and having to experience it can be worst leaving health, emotional and
social damages that cannot be easily fixed.

Abstract
Human trafficking is the modern form of slavery which many people are not aware of or
just decide to ignore this issue because it is easier. This business keeps growing and
growing because the demand for this services keeps incrementing. Women are the
main target for human trafficking in which men and even women take advantage of their
situation that makes them pursue a better life to only realize they are condemned for life
to a debt they are not able to pay in two life times. Trafficked women suffer to the point
that their only option to escape their situation is to kill themselves.

Trafficked Women

11

References
Sex slavery/trafficking. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2016, from
http://www.soroptimist.org/trafficking/faq.html
M. L. (2014, March 17). Menu. Retrieved April 01, 2016,
http://humantraffickingsearch.net/wp/how-street-traffickers-recruit-young-girls/

from

Deshpande, N. A., & Nour, N. M. (2013). Sex Trafficking of Women and Girls. Retrieved
February 16, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3651545/
Ochoa, C. M. (Writer). (2012). La Promesa [Motion picture on slide program]. Colombia.
Morel, P. (Director). (2008). Taken [Motion picture on DVD]. France: Europa Corp.
Kreuzpaintner, M. (2007). Trade - Official Movie Website. Retrieved February 16, 2016,
from http://www.tradethemovie.com/
Trafficking for sexual exploitation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2016, from
http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/about/trafficking-for-sexual-exploitation.html
Zimmerman, C. (Ed.). (2003). The health risks and consequences of trafficking in
women and adolescents findings from a European study [Scholarly project]. Retrieved
March 12, 2016.

Trafficked Women

12